Chicago Youth Gain Job Skills at Monarch

by Mireya Fouchè, Monarch Thrift Shop Assistant Manager

This past summer, Monarch Thrift Shop participated in Heartland Alliance’s Family Works Program, employing two high school students, Tiara and Kiara, who happened to be twin sisters! In the following post, Monarch’s assistant manager Mireya Fouchè interviews Tiara and Kiara about their experiences working at Monarch.

Eight weeks have come and gone too quickly for the Monarch family as our summer youth employment program has come to an end. We were blessed with the presence of Tiara and Kiara, high school twin sisters from the west side of Chicago. Through their time here they played a huge part in the daily tasks of the store—from inventory, to merchandising, to sales. We will miss their always-early attendance, organizational skills, high level of productivity, and laughter due to poking jokes at each other throughout the day…as siblings would do.

Thank you Heartland Alliance – Family Works Program for including us in this program. We thought there would be no better way to see these amazing young girls off than by having you hear from them directly. Ladies, we love you and are grateful for you!

Tiara shares her Monarch experience

What are your goals after high school?
My goals for after high school are to join the Army or Navy, finish college, and help move my family out of Chicago.

What has been your favorite part about working at Monarch Thrift Shop?
My favorite part about working here is the customer service. At first I didn’t like talking to people, but after Christa showed me and taught me how to speak to people I’m good at speaking and helping to make people feel welcomed to the shop.

Can you share with us some things you’ve learned while working here?
So much, but the main things were customer service, organization and responsibility.

Any final thoughts you’d like to share with your fans?
I’m hoping to come back in while I’m in school so that I wouldn’t have to go home and do nothing. I love this store; I’ve learned so many things and have met so many people!

Kiara shares her Monarch experience

What are your goals after high school?
My goals for after high school is to join the Navy for a few years then complete college in the field of Physical Therapy.

What has been your favorite part about working at Monarch Thrift Shop?
My favorite part about working here was sorting the clothes, price tagging the different items, and merchandising. I loved meeting new people like Robert, Mireya, Christa, Andrew, Caroline, Dave, and Josie. So many great volunteers that helped us walk through this good journey in learning things. There were many things I didn’t know before that now I do, like how to merchandise in a retail store, how to steam products, and a lot of other things in inventory!

Any final thoughts you’d like to share with your fans?
I want to share that working here was a great experience. I really appreciate the staff for taking time out of their day to teach me about retailing. I’m going to really miss this great staff I’ve worked with these past eight weeks. I’m going to visit a few times to buy clothes. I also really loved hearing Caroline’s stories and enjoying her meals. It was a great working experience in working with people older than me.